Opa Jur's baby steps.

[Jur]

Ok, after my introduction post I thought, why not start a thread on my first baby steps back into aircraft modelling.

 

I used to lose myself in this hobby as a teenager way back in the dim past of the 1960’s, when life was easy and all you had to do was to squeeze some glue onto a pile of plastic parts, cover the resulting blob in rich layers of Humbrol enamel, and proudly show off the dubious result to your too easily impressed friends. The pinnacle was a conversion inspired by Airfix Magazine with some crudely carved pieces of balsa wood and a mysterious (and possibly illegal) substance concocted from talcum powder and clear dope.

 

Fast forward to 2020, and perusing various websites devoted to plastic modelling a cold fear grips my heart. Things have, uh, rather changed – nowadays people routinely present breathtakingly beautiful models that can barely be distinguished from the real thing. I have to face the truth - my old ‘skills’ are useless, models can no longer be finished in a day or two, and it will take a bigger toolbox than a Stanley knife and a couple of brushes to get anywhere.

 

Basically, I have to start all over again.

Edited June 29, 2020 by Jur

[Jur]

Baby steps, then. Fortunately, Airfix still exist and they still produce affordable and interesting models. Off to the shop and back with a Spitfire – what else?

 

New paints as well – out with the smelly headache-inducing Humbrol and in with the new acrylics (Vallejo in my case). Great paint, but applying it with a brush isn’t as easy as I remember it to be. It takes several layers and brush marks are still too obvious. Too late I discover that the cockpit canopy doesn’t fit. My learnings from this are: use spray paint, and double check the fit before glueing!

 

 

So the next kit is an all-silver Revell Gladiator, duly attacked with a rattle can from Halfords. Not too bad, I think, except for a doomed attempt at free-hand painting of the canopy frame. Learnings: never try that again. I should have known, I can barely see the canopy, let alone the frame.

 

 

The problem now is, many of the aircraft I would fancy to build come in more than one colour with intricate patterns several orders of magnitudes finer than the resolution of a Halfords spray can.

 

So, after some soul searching  I ordered a real airbrush. Right, another set of skills to learn! What better to practice on than an Airfix Hurricane? Wised up to the impossibility (for me) of free-hand spraying a camouflage pattern in 1/72 scale I also bought a little set of vinyl masks. Great stuff, as long as they stick, which fortunately mostly they do. Still, after peeling them off, the second colour has in a few places crept underneath.  A bit of tidying up with a brush proves that the very same paint applied with a brush is markedly darker than when applied with an airbrush. Odd, but another lesson learned – really squeeze those masks home.

 

Another strange experience is that for some reason the paint doesn’t really want to cover the canopy framework. Too thin? Not clean enough? Who knows, but next time I will pay a bit more attention. In any case, I’m reasonably happy with the end result. I’m also happy that I glued on the undercarriage after the painting so it didn’t break during masking and spraying, and so that the glue joints are also quite weak which came in handy when I dropped the model during the photo session in the garden. The little plastic pieces didn’t snap in two but one undercarriage leg flew off completely. If you have problems with the carpet monster, I can tell you that his big brother the garden monster is another kettle of fish entirely. Even so, eventually I got lucky and found the part among the shrubbery.

 

 

 

One Hurricane returned safely home after its mission.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Jur

[Jur]

Next, I got myself this great decal sheet dedicated to the Battle of Britain. Enough there for loads of Airfix models! So, I got myself a Defiant, a second Spitfire (see if I can improve on the first one – not that difficult surely) and a Gladiator to be finished in camouflage this time.  Also a Blenheim, but that is a different horror story altogether, more on which later perhaps. Finally, for a bit of variation, I also got myself a desert camouflaged Tomahawk (we’re going to need a bigger plane?) with a beautiful and frighteningly thin aerial molded on its spine. Ha, nothing is stopping me now!

 

These models are still WIP. For the Defiant I got another vinyl mask set, on the Spitfire and the Tomahawk I used the Blutak Sausage method. You can’t help but admire the geniuses that came up with these tricks! I will try the same on the Gladiator but that comes in no less than 5 colours so I’m still raking my brain on how to mask all that. They call it the Travelling Salesman Problem I believe. So far I’ve managed to put on 3 without too much conflict.

 

 

As the pictures show, the spraying is slowly getting better.  I think. The vinyl mask caused some nasty paint ridges on the Defiant which I only spotted after I put on the roundels, too late to ?perhaps gently buff them away (a scary idea!?). The sausage method gave me lovely gentle fringes on the Tomahawk, and the Spitfire looks ok-ish as well, certainly better than the brush painted one. Lessons learned!

 

 

 

 

Now I am on the decals (after coating the models in some gloss Vallejo varnish). I do notice that the base coats are not very resilient and there are various little chips showing. The lesson, I guess, is that I really should apply primer before basecoating. Yes, it will all take longer still. And?

 

Those Xtradecals – they look lovely but I’m not sure they and I are going to get along. Unlike Airfix decals, they come off the backing paper in just seconds, so if you are a bit distracted you find the markings floating all by themselves in the cup of water. No problemo, until the serial numbers double back on themselves! Then, after salvaging that, they insist on sticking pretty much instantly to the model even in places where they shouldn’t.  That is, especially in places where they shouldn’t. At that stage they either don’t move, or move too far. Still, mostly it comes good after some choice words, lots of extra water and some little flasks of scary chemicals. That the Defiant code also stands for a famous Dutch football club provides some extra motivation.

 

 

So that is where I’m at right now. That Tomahawk aerial did break off after all of course, but I did catch it (the monsters are getting hungry) and I will try to stick it back on – as the last thing I’ll do on this.

 

Yes, I know, that Spitfire fin flash isn't straight. I may have another one on the decal sheet.

 

Am I happy so far? You bet! I’m having a blast, even if it is more of a slow burn than a sudden explosion, like it was 50 years ago.

 

Watch this space, I’m coming for you.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Jur

[dogsbody]

Hang in there! I haven't finished anything in 30+ years. Almost two years ago, I started a 1/72 Airfix Hurricane and I'm still not finished. I usually freeze up at the painting stage, but soon I'm going to fire up the airbrush and just how badly I can screw this up. 

 

Just find something and build it as you like, for yourself. Post in-progress pictures as you got and members will help with any question or problems. 

 

 

 

Chris

[chrispisme]

I’d say you’re doing damned fine work there!

[Guest]

Beautiful work! I started myself in the early days, 1963 or so at a mere 10 years old. It is

frightening to see the level of quality compared to the mediocre builds back then. You are

doing most excellent, I found out one thing the hard way though, build to please yourself!

It is your creation and all about you!---John

[TheRealMrEd]

Way to go Jur!

 

You're coming right along!  You are correct in surmising that life will be better if you prime things before any real paint goes on.  In addition, as regards to the masks, the drill is to put the first color coat on VERY lightly, shooting straight down along the mask edges, with as low a pressure as your rig will allow the paint to flow.  Follow up with another slightly wetter coat when the first dries, and subsequent coats when needed.  Another trick from the old masking tape days is to apply the masks, then shoot a coat of clear overall, as the clear, if it runs under the masks, won't show, and should keep the color coat from bleeding under.

 

Good luck, but you are learning rapidly...

 

Ed

[Cookenbacher]

You're making rapid progress Jur. At this rate you'll be winning contests by August!

[neil5208]

You have made a good return so far, best to prime before painting and I find using a leveling thinner like Mr Colour leveling thinners give a much better finish than normal thinners and slows the drying time. If you think the xtradecals are thin wait until you get eduard or print scale one make xtradecal look like hasegawa thick one. 

[Marklo]

Great to see another return to the hobby, my experience was very similar except my first build was an Airfix King Tiger and it took me way longer to get in to airbrushing. Your results so far are extremely good.

[Eric Mc]

Great results for a returnee.

 

 

[Spec7]

Great work, i too am returning and on my 3rd model now after a decade away and its amazing how much you forget and have to relearn. also a lot of changes in models and  bits. Mig ultra glue is the best thing since sliced bread  worth coming back on its own

[mackem01]

Looking at the finish on that Hurricane, I'd say your back up to speed with model making after your ............erm........sabaticle.

Enjoy your new-old-hobby, look forward to more of your builds.

[perdu]

I wish my return to The Game had been along as good a learning curve.

You have made the models, shown the models and explained the Jur processes very well

 

Glad to be sharing with you chum, its a long journey.

[RichieW]

These are beautiful, what a great comeback! .

 

You seem to have mastered the airbrush very quickly.

 

I never tire of seeing Spitfires and Hurricanes. Have you been tempted by the new Tamiya 1/48 Spitfire mk1 yet? There's another due from Eduard in August. Would love to see you build one, or both!

[Jur]

Wow, thank you all for your wonderful and stimulating comments! It is great to get such encouragement, and the hints and tips are very welcome indeed!

 

= dogsbody, I appreciate what you're saying about being hesitant to switch on the airbrush. I have the same, the further I get into a build the more nervous I get about screwing it up and wasting all those hours that came before. Still, the only way to build confidence and improve my skills is just to go ahead and do it, for better or worse. I take the lead from my lovely 1-year old granddaughter here: when she is confronted with a new task, she doesn't just sit there to analyse it to death, but she jumps in with enthusiasm and she learns through trial and error. That seems the best approach to be honest. And it it all fails, the plastic may go into the bin but the experience and the learnings will stay with us forever. Or so I tell myself.

 

= TheRealMrEd, thank you for your valuable tips! I have used the one about applying varnish after masking straightaway, since I had the varnish out anyway for these three models I also put a coat onto the Gladiator after masking. Hopefully it will work!

 

= Cookenbacher, no, no contests, ever. That way lies madness. I do this to relax, not to get all stressed about the tiniest mistake. I'm happy to leave the contests to the gods and demi-gods of plastic modelling, the type of people who were born with an airbrush in their mouth (to coin a phrase; and do't do this at home).

 

= neil5208, thank you for the tip. I actually add one or two drops of Vallejo Flow Improver to the paint and that seems to help in evening it all out. About those decals, today I finalised them on the other side of the models (I learned not to try and do them all at once, by the time you have done the second side you find out that you've moved the ones on the first side) and already I found it to be somewhat easier. Of all the perils in this world it won't be the decals that will get me!

 

=RichieW, for the time being I will stick to 1/72 I think. Once I am more confident I might try a bigger scale, perhaps. Space is an issue and I need some psychological recalibration about clearing out old stuff to make space for new.

 

Speaking of which, I get the feeling that there is actually an awful lot of psychology involved in kit building, enough for a dissertation or two. I have to deal with challenge and reward, success and failure, satisfaction of learning new skills and managing disapppointment when sometimes it doesn't work out. Perhaps the real end product isn't a model aircraft,  but rather a journey of personal development and enrichment. Yes, exactly like that. Or something. Whatever.

 

Anyway, on to some more progress. I finalised the decals and gave the models a coat of matt varnish. Then I unpeeled the cockpits, with mixed results.

 

On the Tomahawk I had used vinyl masks, and they leave some residue that I need to polish away. What is worse, something has happened on the inside of the canopy, perhaps a stringer of the PVA has come loose? You can just make it out in the picture.  I am now wondering if I should try and remove the canopy to clean that out..... hmmm, scary... Or, I just look at the thing from a normal distance and forget it is there.

 

 

The Defiant came out rather nicely, again with vinyl masks. A bit of a light buff should hopefully finish that. There is some residue of the blutak I used to mask off the turret opening that needs removing. Funny stuff, it sticks to everything but most of all to itself, so dabbing little spots with more blutak is actualy helpful in removing it. Interesting factoid, that.

 

 

The Spitfire came out best, I think - on this one I actually made my own masks with Tamiya tape. I probably ought to do that more often but there is a limit on the number of panels I can stand doing. A Tiger Moth is just about that limit.

 

 

Next I have to glue on the various spindly bits, hopefully without accidentally emptying the pot of glue all over the models, and they're done!

 

The next one up is the Gladiator, the one with the over-the-top 5 colour camouflage pattern. After having applied the underside colour and the two shades of brown on the upper surfaces I masked off just about everything and applied a coat of dark green to the upper surfaces.

 

 

 

 

Yes, there is a model in there somewhere (I think!).

 

I find that I'm going through prodigious amounts of blu-tak and tape here, and that is without counting meals. Not just that, by the way - I'm also rapidly depleting Swindon's stock of cotton buds and tissues to clean my airbrush. All that spraying is fine and dandy but the amount of IPA I am using makes people wonder if I drink the stuff (not recommended at all, mind you!). Still, all for a good cause!

 

More to follow.

Edited June 26, 2020 by Jur

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Jur: Nicely done, all of these.  For a person returning to the hobby, you seem to be on the "fast course," especially regarding airbrushing.  I'm impressed with the notable progress in quality.  As for me, I never stopped building models, and I am still learning (and drawing inspiration) from others.  Press on!

[dnl42]

Bravo! Well done on your return!

Welcome aboard! 

[billn53]

On 6/25/2020 at 6:38 PM, Jur said:

Ok, after my introduction post I thought, why not start a thread on my first baby steps back into aircraft modelling.

 

I used to lose myself in this hobby as a teenager way back in the dim past of the 1960’s, when life was easy and all you had to do was to squeeze some glue onto a pile of plastic parts, cover the resulting blob in rich layers of Humbrol enamel, and proudly show off the dubious result to your too easily impressed friends. The pinnacle was a conversion inspired by Airfix Magazine with some crudely carved pieces of balsa wood and a mysterious (and possibly illegal) substance concocted from talcum powder and clear dope.

 

Fast forward to 2020, and perusing various websites devoted to plastic modelling a cold fear grips my heart. Things have, uh, rather changed – nowadays people routinely present breathtakingly beautiful models that can barely be distinguished from the real thing. I have to face the truth - my old ‘skills’ are useless, models can no longer be finished in a day or two, and it will take a bigger toolbox than a Stanley knife and a couple of brushes to get anywhere.

 

Basically, I have to start all over again.

Welcome back to the hobby! Three years ago I was in exactly the same place as you! Fortunately, there are tons of knowledge and modeling wisdom in the Britmodeller community, and I’ve found its members invariably willing to help and answer questions. Keep at it, and you’ll find your modeling skills growing faster than you could ever imagine.

- Bill

[ERK]

Same situation as myself  - learning new skills and new ways of  modeling  - and doing everything under a magnifier - then take high resolution pics and see our flaws  - but we keep going - keep improving.

 

E.

[desert falcon]

Welcome back to the hobby Jur, from another returnee. 
 

Your work looks great, keep sharing please! 

 

And as you soon discovered yourself, the most important thing is that you are having fun  🙂

[Jur]

Well, here we are then. I applied a panel wash (AK) by brushing it on as near to the panel lines as I could manage (I'm happy to report that I mostly succeeded in missing my workbench) and then after a few minutes wiping most of it off again with cotton buds and white spirit. Makes you wonder, really, if you know how much they charge for that stuff. The result is visible but fairly subtle - I think it is enough, I don't want them to be too stark. Someone might see them.

 

Then I added the various spindly bits - undercarriages, aerials, pitot tubes and propellors. A frightening experience. Try snipping them off the sprues without them snapping in two! Snip, Snap and Hey, two parts for the price of one! Then, gravity seems to attract tiny parts much more severely than it does big lumps like myself. It has a murderous attraction on these microscopic bits of plastic. I also wonder why the humble pair of tweezers never found their way into the armies of the past - they can propel small missiles with huge force over vast distances. A wonder to behold!

 

Anyway, after alternating my time at the workbench and on the floor I got most of them on. The exception was that notorious Tomahawk aerial that I managed to keep intact for 90% of the build, then have it snap off almost at the end but at least safely stored it in a small plastic bag - which I then couldn't find anywhere anymore for love nor money. So, I resorted to drilling a small hole and pushing in a bit of brass rod. Seeing how easy that is I wonder why I bothered with the official bit in the first place. One learns.

 

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, here they are then: a Battle of Britian trio and a lone Desert Rat (a flying rat, even).

 

Overall I am actually fairly chuffed with this lot, As my first attempt at plastic aircraft modelling in about 50 years I think they will do. Here are the mug shots:

 

 

 

 

 

Some more pics:

 

 

 

 

 

And the whole lot of them together:

 

 

 

Ok, onwards and upwards from here: next up is to finalise that Gladiator with its crazy 5-colour camouflage scheme. After that? We'll see, I have a nice litle stash built up already so there is some choice.

 

Thanks for looking, and please don't be shy with constructive criticism and hints and tips on how I can improve my efforts. I still want to become a grown-up modeller one day!

Edited June 27, 2020 by Jur

[Seveneves]

@Jur  I am like you coming back to the hobby after many many years.   I commend your work and it is inspiring me to get cracking on my stash.

 

Cheers

[dogsbody]

A grand effort. They all look good to me.

 

Now to get my keester into gear and get some paint on my Hurricane.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Dstream]

These are very fine models, Jur. You got all the fundamental things right, they look very clean and well done. I am also a newbie here, although I restarted models since 7-8 years with an average of 1-2 models a year. From my perspective, perhaps, a little bit more care with the transparent parts where the paint does not cover well the frames. I spray the interior color first, then I cover it with the camo color.

See you around here,

Daniele